D-Y school budget holds big hike for Yarmouth

Wednesday

Feb 15, 2017 at 11:44 AMFeb 16, 2017 at 1:18 PM

Conor Powers-Smith csmith@wickedlocal.com

A shift in enrollment trends will likely mean that Yarmouth's share of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District budget will increase sharply, while the increase in Dennis will be a lot easier for taxpayers to take.

The current version of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District’s fiscal 2018 budget would assess Yarmouth nearly $1 million more than the 2.5 percent increase over the previous fiscal year that the town has allowed for, while Dennis’ assessment would rise by significantly less than 2.5 percent.

The regional school committee met with Dennis selectmen Tuesday night to discuss the budget. The committee was scheduled to meet with Yarmouth selectmen Feb. 28, but at Tuesday night's meeting the Yarmouth board indicated it would likely postpone that meeting to a later date. Yarmouth Selectwoman Tracy Post said the school committee should be allowed more time to adjust the budget, calling the current version, with its sharp spike in Yarmouth's assessment, "not worth talking about." The school committee is set to take up the budget again March 6.

Adopted in January, the tentative district budget would increase spending by 3.89 percent, to $58.74 million. After subtracting expected state and federal reimbursements and other revenue, the budget assesses Yarmouth about $31.8 million, up from about $30.1 million in fiscal 2017. Dennis would see its contribution rise to about $16.2 million, up from about $15.9 million.

Dennis’ actual increase of about $365,000 is actually 2.3 percent, some $31,000 less than what a 2.5 percent hike would call for. Yarmouth’s increase of about $1.75 million, meanwhile, is over $997,000 above and beyond 2.5 percent, amounting to a 5.82 percent rise.

“Dennis’ number is $31,000 less than a two and a half percent increase,” district Director of Finance and Operations Larry Azer told the school committee Monday night. “Yarmouth’s is just short of a million more than what two and a half percent would be.”

Part of the discrepancy is due to a significant drop in school-age children in Dennis, Azer said, and a relatively small corresponding decrease in Yarmouth. “Dennis had a reduction of 62, while Yarmouth only had a reduction of eight,” Azer said. “You see the shift in enrollment toward Yarmouth, so that is going to shift cost toward them.”

As of fiscal 2018, Azer said, the district’s “foundation enrollment,” which includes children who attend other districts or charter schools, will be comprised of approximately 66 percent Yarmouth students and 34 percent Dennis students, the largest imbalance between the two towns since fiscal 2007.

Azer said simply funding the current level of services would entail a budget increase of 3.19 percent, not including the retention of several positions, including part-time kindergarten and early-education teachers and assistants. The budget tentatively approved by the committee in January also includes several additional staff positions, including part-time assistants at the district’s elementary schools, and a full-time athletic trainer at the high school. Also included is $18,000 to allow reduced user fees for student athletes, and about $13,000 for new foreign-language books.

Even eliminating all those additions, listed in three tiers according to priority, would not offset the increase to Yarmouth’s assessment, since together they total less than half of it, some $403,000. Any cuts would also be split between the two towns according to the same formula used to calculate their assessments.

Several committee members objected to adding money to the budget while the district has yet to finish developing its new curriculum. Michelle Conover of Yarmouth suggested the lack of a cohesive district-wide curriculum could be a factor in some families’ decision to send their children to charter schools or other districts.

“We’re losing the equivalent of a school building to choice and charter, yet I don’t see a plan,” Conover said. “I’d like to see money devoted to curriculum writing.”

“I think it’s a major issue with some of the things we’re seeing, particularly when it comes to the choice and charter folks,” said Brian Sullivan of Yarmouth.

Superintendent of schools Carol Woodbury said writing the curriculum is an ongoing effort not fully reflected in budget line-items, since many teachers and other staff work on it during professional days and other time included in their regular salaries.

“It’s inaccurate to say we’re not working on the curriculum,” Woodbury said. “What exactly are you looking for, one individual sitting in a room writing the curriculum and putting it in a binder?”

Andrea St. Germain of Dennis said it made more sense for the district to develop an individualized curriculum than to import one from outside. “We are working very hard on the curriculum,” she said. “If you want just to have a curriculum, you can buy one. It may not work for us, but it will be sitting on a shelf.”

James Dykeman of Dennis said the budget would likely have to be trimmed in order to be approved by both towns. “We have to come up with some way of cutting this budget,” he said. “After sitting on this committee for 17 years, and going through budgets for 17 years, I don’t think this budget is going to fly.”

Woodbury said the administration already reviews areas of spending. “We do look at all of our programs. It’s not uncommon for us to eliminate a program when we find it isn’t working for our students.”

Sullivan asked whether the district would be free to eliminate the Innovation School programs in place at the Nathaniel Wixon and Ezra Baker Schools in Dennis, since it no longer receives grant money to support them.

Woodbury said she would have to check with the Massachusetts Department of Education to determine whether that was even possible.

Dykeman cautioned against rushing into such a major change. “Before this committee would consider doing away with an innovation school or anything like that, I hope they would consult the parents,” he said.